New to the city, country boy Harold Lloyd hopes to work his way up the ladder at the De Vore Department Store. But having led his hometown sweetheart to believe that he’s already been promoted to a top spot in management, Lloyd must work overtime to make himself look like a big shot. Lloyd steadily piles on sight gags and stunts, culminating in his hair-raising ascent of the building’s facade—the image of Lloyd hanging from the hands of the building’s clock has become a comedic landmark and modernist icon. "To see it today with an audience alternately roaring with laughter and gasping is one of the greatest experiences of cinema" – David Shipman.

Struggling to care for her sickly mother, Angela (Janet Gaynor) sacrifices her virtue and walks the streets of Naples to support her family. When she’s arrested—not for soliciting but for shoplifting medicine for her mother—Angela eludes the law and joins a traveling circus. There she falls in love with Gino (Charles Farrell), a painter. But when her past threatens to tear them apart, can their love survive? Frank Borzage’s lush romance won Gaynor the very first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1929 (awarded collectively for her performances here and in two 1927 releases: Borzage’s SEVENTH HEAVEN and F. W. Murnau’s SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS).

Preserved by The Museum of Modern Art with support from The Mayer Foundation.

No passes accepted.

Sat, Apr 27, 1:30

"Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies"

Published by the Library of Congress in association with the University of Kentucky Press, “Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies,” edited by Christel Schmidt, sheds new light on this icon’s life and legacy. Through essays by Schmidt and other eminent film historians, Pickford emerges from the pages in vivid detail. She is revealed as a gifted actress, a philanthropist and a savvy industry leader who fought for creative control of her films and ultimately became her own producer. Her success paved the way for women in film and ushered in Hollywood’s Golden Age. This volume features more than 200 color and black-and-white illustrations, including photographs and posters from the Library of Congress’ collections and those of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A fascinating portrait of a key figure in American cinematic history.

Christel Schmidt is a film historian, writer and editor. She was awarded two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on Mary Pickford and is co-editor of “Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture.”

Sale and signing of “Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies” in the lobby following each Pickford screening.

“[Mary] Pickford is ineffably moving as Molly, the oldest girl (and self-appointed protector) of a group of orphans being held as slaves in a ‘child farm’ deep in a Southern swamp. Arguably Pickford’s masterpiece, SPARROWS is a radiant example of the timelessness and clarity of feeling that silent film could achieve. Made with an awareness of the formal developments of the contemporary German cinema (it was Pickford who brought Ernst Lubitsch to Hollywood, to direct her in the 1923 ROSITA), the film seems like a lost tale from the Brothers Grimm, immersed in primal fears. As Molly leads the children away from the ogrelike overseer (Gustav von Seyffertitz), across the quicksand and through the Expressionist swamp (a sequence beautifully detailed by director William Beaudine, and lighted by cinematographers—Charles Rosher and Karl Struss—who would shoot F. W. Murnau’s SUNRISE one year later), the film seems to burrow into the viewer’s subconscious. I feel sure that it did for Charles Laughton, whose singular masterwork THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) echoes much of the atmosphere and emotion of SPARROWS.” – Dave Kehr, The New York Times.

England, 1550: Headstrong teenager Dorothy Vernon (Mary Pickford) chafes at her nobleman father’s plans to arrange her marriage, instead falling in love with the son of her father’s sworn enemy. But these affairs of the heart intersect with those of the state, and Dorothy soon discovers she has given offense to both Mary, Queen of Scots, and England’s Queen Elizabeth! This grand historical drama was an adventurous change of pace for the enterprising Pickford.

35mm restoration print courtesy of the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique and the Library of Congress.

No passes accepted.

Fri, Apr 26, 7:30Sale and author signing of “Mary Pickford: Queen of the Movies” in the lobby following the screening.

Masters of Silent ComedyLive musical accompaniment by the Snark Ensemble

Buster Keaton in THE GOAT
Mistaken for the escaped murderer “Dead Shot Dan,” Buster Keaton goes on the lam, narrowly escaping the cops time and again. While on the run, he meets a beautiful young woman, only to discover she’s the daughter of the police chief on his trail. DIR/SCR Buster Keaton, Malcolm St. Clair; PROD Joseph M. Schenck. US, 1921, b&w, 27 min. NOT RATED

Charlie Chaplin in THE RINK
Charlie Chaplin skates circles around his antagonists, figuratively, waiting tables in a swanky restaurant, and literally, at the rink next door, in one of his best-loved two- reelers produced for the Mutual Film Corporation. DIR/SCR/ PROD Charles Chaplin; SCR Vincent Bryan, Maverick Terrell; PROD Henry P. Caulfield. US, 1916, b&w, 24 min. NOT RATED

Laurel and Hardy in LIBERTY
Produced by Hal Roach, directed by Leo McCarey (DUCK SOUP), photographed by George Stevens and featuring a cameo by the young Jean Harlow, this film is considered by many to be the funniest of the Laurel and Hardy silent shorts. DIR/SCR Leo McCarey; SCR H.M. Walker; PROD Hal Roach. US, 1929, b&w, 20 min. NOT RATED

The Snark Ensemble
The Snark Ensemble is an instrumental group dedicated to the creation and live performance of new music to silent film. The ensemble joyfully celebrates the zany, clever and brilliant world of vintage silent comedies in its specially crafted film scores. Built around a core of three composer-performers (Andrew Earle Simpson, keyboards; Maurice Saylor, woodwinds; and Phil Carluzzo, percussion and frets), the Snark Ensemble creates and performs scores that respond to and amplify the events taking place on screen.

No passes accepted.

Sun, Apr 28, 1:30
Tickets $12/$10 AFI Members/$8 kids 12 and under

Wild and Weird

Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra

These films truly live up to the title! Working with noted film preservationist David Shepard, Alloy Orchestra compiled this wide-ranging selection of unusually imaginative silent shorts dubbed “Wild and Weird,” many of which boast clever special effects and dynamic camerawork. A soap opera played out with animated bugs; a pet that grows so big it stalks the city; a (real) fly doing macabre acrobatic tricks—this collection of ten shorts will shock and amaze!

About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.

GOOD NIGHT, NURSE!
Ordered by his wife to check in to the No Hope Sanitarium and get his drinking under control, Fatty Arbuckle is scared straight and then some by the sight of Buster Keaton’s blood- splattered, cleaver-wielding surgeon. Attempting various means of escape, Arbuckle finally succeeds in running away—and right into the town’s Fat Man Foot Race. DIR/SCR Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle; PROD Joseph M. Schenck. US, 1918, b&w, 20 min.

THE PLAY HOUSE
Vaudevillian Buster Keaton dreams about his big night on stage, which, by means of some clever multiple-exposure camera wizardry, has Keaton playing all the parts on stage, in the band, and the audience, too.
DIR/SCR Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton; PROD Joseph M. Schenck. US, 1921, b&w, 23 min.

"The best in the world at accompanying silent films."– Roger Ebert

About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.